In the field of rackets used for sports such as tennis, racket ball, squash, and the like, the handle of the racket has traditionally been shaped as a cylindrical, oval, rectangular, or octagonal tubular member which is dimensioned to be gripped easily by the racket user. Many individuals have found, however, that these prior art handle constructions are unsatisfactory in several different respects.
The prior art handle assemblies provide little tactile indication of the orientation of the face of the racket. Obviously a small error in the tactially perceived angle of the racket head can produce a large error in the trajectory of the ball which is struck by the racket.
Also, racket handles are know to become slippery during use, due to the perspiration which is absorbed from the hand of the racket user. As the handle becomes more slippery with prespiration, the player must grip the handle more tightly to carry the racket during play as well as to swing the racket to strike the ball. This in turn may lead to fatigue of the hand of the player and ultimately to deterioration of the quality of the play.
Attempts have been made in the prior art to modify the handle structure of game rackets to overcome these problems. The following United States Patents comprise the closest known prior art:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,817,521 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,110 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,598 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,896 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,311
Generally speaking, the modifications of the handle structure in the prior art comprise finger grooves which are formed in the handle member to receive the fingers and thumb of the hand of the player. Although the finger grooves may increase the frictional engagement with the hand of the player, they do not necessarily increase the tactile perception of the angle of the face of the racket. Furthermore, the finger receiving grooves have depth and spacing corresponding to a particular hand size. For different sized hands, corresponding sizes of hand grips must be produced. The multiplicity of sizes and configurations prevents the profitable distribution of these forms of handle members.
This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that grooves formed in the handle member to receive the thumb and fingers of the hand of the player must be configured as right or left hand models, as it is impossible for the fingers of the left hand to fit into grooves provided for a right handed person, and visa versa. Thus the number of models of grooved hand grips must be doubled.
Also, it should be noted that in some racket sports like tennis, most individuals change their grip on the racket for backhand and forehand strokes. Indeed, many of the grooved handles known in the prior art are adapted to accommodate such a shift in the grip of the player. However, many players change their grip on the racket much more markedly; i.e., from a western grip to a continental grip to effect top spin, under spin, or the like. A grooved handle construction may actually impede this extreme shift playing style and technique.